Coerced
by Penamesolen
Summary: Season Zero ep. 9. Jounouchi is ready to go and teach that yo-yo gang a lesson, but he never realized that he would be meeting his past there. Hirutani was back.


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own **_**Yu-Gi-Oh! (Zero)**_**.**

**Because I liked Jounouchi's past and like to read more about it and how he got away, also how the past returns since he seems pretty well-known in that community. Alas, people write corny Jounouchi/Kaiba or Vampire!Jounouchi. XD So yeah, my first try on a **_**Yu-Gi-Oh**_** fanfic.**

**PS: If you know about good Jounouchi fanfics that are about his past or problems, or when his past comes back, could you please tell me in the reviews? I remember a fanfic where Jounouchi was pairing with this OC who kept saying "you know" and had to deal with paying for his father's loans, and it was good, but I can't remember the name of it. So if you know, could you tell me about that too? Thank you in advance.**

J'z.

The American-styled bar, giving off the smell of hamburgers and other foreign junk-food was now right before Jounouchi Katsuya.

The teen looked at the stairs down to the door with a frowned look. He had been prepared for everything, he thought, when he had gone to ask those classmates attacked by the yo-yo gang. Even when the students said the gang wore uniforms from the Rintama high school, Jounouchi did not think more about it. Maybe he just did not want to. After asking around, other pupils said they had heard the gang talking about a place called J'z. When all the victims had heard this name, it only made sense that it would be a normal place for the gang to be. Because of this theory, Jounouchi decided to find the bar.

And now he was standing there, ready to walk in and kick the asses of those thugs who had attacked his classmates.

Jounouchi walked down the stairs and through the door.

The bar looked different from how he imagined, the blond realized. He had imagined it to be lots of flags from different American and European countries, a lot of alcohol and maybe something resembling a grill. But it was not. Instead he found himself inside a nice, simple bar with next to no decorations, save for a picture or something on the walls. It was alcohol there, as he had thought, but it was nicely organized on the hills, and if Jounouchi's eyes were not fooling him, he also saw normal soda there, too.

After looking around, his eyes caught a bunch of boys, sitting on the sofa while some of them were taking a smoke. Most of the boys seemed to have their hair styled after Americans, something that Jounouchi never understood the deal with; he himself always kept his hair _just_ short enough to not get trouble with the school, just to piss of the teachers a bit, but at least he did not try to imitate people like Elvis or have spiky and stupid-colored hair. Jounouchi recognized their school uniforms; they belonged to the Rintama school, like the classmates had said. Then his eyes fell on the next tallest man there, with his dark blue hair and the same thick-smelling smoke in between his lips.

Hirutani.

Short flashes from his years in middle school were flowing through his mind, from all those times he would pick fights together with his at that time friends, but he quickly rid them off when someone from behind the bar disc asked if he wanted something to drink. Jounouchi shook his head, not bothering to smile or show any form for emotion to the stranger.

Now that he got a better focus of the gang, the Domino high school student actually remembered most of the faces there. Even though there were a couple of new ones, Jounouchi could recognize his former friends from a long time ago.

However, when the boy noticed that one of the unrecognizable members of the gang was looking at him, almost with enmity in his eyes, Jounouchi remembered why he really was there. He was not supposed to stand there as a fool and think back to bad old days; he was there to avenge his fellow pupils for what the very gang sitting before him had done to them.

He stared back at the other male while approaching the gang. He wanted to show the douche that he was not afraid of them, that they should, in fact, be afraid of _him_.

After being surprised that someone actually had the guts to not hurry and avoid his glare, the new face quickly retrieved his enmity face as he did his best to ask in a mocking tone,

"What're _you_ starin' at?"

When the boy said that, the rest of the gang turned around to see who he had been talking to. Like the first one, they all stared at Jounouchi like he was inferior to them. But some of them, those who he used to hang with in middle school, seemed more confused than the others, possibly either trying to remember his familiar face or wondering what a former gang member was doing in J'z.

Hirutani was the only one who never seemed suspicious or confused. In fact, he rose up with his arms open, as if signaling a friendly encounter, with the same calm smile on his face. Jounouchi kept his hands in his pockets and still had the frowned face, filled with distrust and seriousness.

"Jounouchi, what a surprise," Hirutani exclaimed. When they heard Jounouchi's name, most of his old friends seemed to recognize him, and apparently he was known by the new faces too, since they seemed to whisper to each other about him.

"I'm the one who should say that," the blonde said, stopping when he was just two meters from Hirutani. "When I heard that some punks had attacked Domino students, I didn't think it would be you guys."

"Actually, I saw you about two weeks ago on our way to school." School? Did that guy seriously go to school? That uniform was not just to make him look pretty? "You seemed to talk with some chicks, a little twerp and that janitor from middle school." Jounouchi did not like this. He felt like he had been stalked. He had been trying to avoid everything involving Hirutani and middle school for so long, and now he got to know that their paths had been crossed, without him knowing? "Anyway, Jounouchi," Hirutani said, waking the blond away from his thoughts. "You mentioned something about folks from Domino high. Any reason?"

"Of course I have," the Domino student said, clutching his hands into balls. "I hear that you have been attacking students from my school. " Hirugani seemed like he was in deep thought, as if he was trying to remember what he was being accused for. Jounouchi knew better; the blue-head knew perfectly well what he had been talking about, and was just trying to win some time to think if something of worth could come out of this.

"Yes, I think we crossed path with someone with your uniform," the older teen said, wearing his words with a sly smile. That only made Jounouchi angrier. "Why do you ask?"

With a louder voice, the blonde said, "You know damn well why I ask! Yo-yos aren't meant to hurt people! Besides," he added, pointing with his thumb toward his chest. "If you're messing with people from Domino high, you're messing with _me_!" And heaven forbid, one did _not_ mess with the infamous self-made legend Jounouchi Katsuya, who could take down four street punks' surprise attack solo with getting only one hit.

Some of the younger members of the gang seemed a little taken off by the threat, probably having heard of the rumors. Those who knew Jounouchi from before did not seem that surprised, but were still on guard. Hirutani was just relaxed.

"Hey, don't start a fight here," one of the boys behind Hirutani said carefully. Jounouchi looked at him for a second before returning back to the blue-haired's eyes. It had just been that Elvis-wannabe. "We don't fight when we're at J'z, or the owner will kick us out and call the police."

Police? How come the police had not caught them yet? Surely the bar owner had heard enough of evidence to keep them out of the street for a long time. Then again, Hirutani had this special ability to make deals with people, be it with legal business or force. Or maybe the bar owner did not care, as long as his bar did not get hurt and he earned money. Or maybe the police was doing just as a sucky job as they always had been doing.

"Yes, that's right." Hirutani took his cigarette away from his mouth for a moment to breathe out. "And at any rate, Jounouchi, you came at perfect timing." Snapping his fingers, Hirutani finally took his glance away from his former friend and to some of the other boys. "Go get our guest something to drink." For a moment, Hirutani looked over at Jounouchi with a know-it-all-smile. "Can I guess you still don't drink?"

Jounouchi just wrinkled his nose in disgust to answer. Smirking, the leader of the gang told the Elvis-wannabe and the only bigger man to get some Coke. As the two teens walked past, another of them followed halfway, only to stop when he was three meters at Jounouchi's right side. Noticing this, the blond frowned, frustrated. He did not like that move.

"Hirutani, I'm not here to have a sappy reunion," Jounouchi said, doing his best not to just leap forward and make every single one of them taste his fist.

"Of course not," the man said. "You're here because we invaded your territory. But Jounouchi, there's one thing you forgot:" Hirutani exhaled again, this time aiming at Jounouchi. The latter leant his head backward to avoid as much smoke as possible. "There aren't any gangs at that school. Which means we can do whatever we want with it as long as it's not claimed by another gang. You know, the basic street gang rule in this city." Some of the members behind Hirutani let out weak laughter, but both the leader and the former member ignored it. "At any rate, Jounouchi, we have actually been planning on stretching our territory for a while, but we're having some problems with the other gangs. Even when we are at our best, they always come back, so we decided to instead infiltrate the area around Domino high. I had completely forgotten that you went there, of course.

"So here's the deal," taking out the cigarette, Hirutani pointed at Jounouchi with it. "You come back to our gang, and we'll go back to the original plan of stretching the territory another place. Your school is left alone."

Caught by surprise, the Domino student widened his eyes. Was the man-looking boy out of his mind? Jounouchi had put his past with Hirutani's gang behind him, starting a new life. Why else would he start at the same school as Honda? Honda had been the only one who had been there for him, even before they became real friends. Even when Honda never liked his bad habits, he had never turned from Jounouchi, respecting the latter's wish to solve them with his own ways. Honda never gave up on Jounouchi, and when the blonde was ready to start a new chapter in his life, the janitor was there to be a part of it.

Not bothering to shake his head, the blond made himself mentally ready for a front attack. "I like the original plan where I beat the crap out of you much better. I'd _never_ join your mountain of monkeys."

Hirutani laughed, not at all threatened by what the younger boy had said. Hearing how their leader was relaxed, his minions laughed weakly too. "Jounouchi, let me say something," he said, taking his cigarette inside his mouth again. "You could maybe beat us all, but you'll never kill us. The police won't take action, either, and we'll eventually get back to good old health." The smirk at the gang leader's face grew wider. "So, to put it simply: I want you back, you won't kill us, and we'll be back and take on your friends instead."

That did it. Jounouchi leapt forward with his fist behind, just about to break the punk's nose. It never did. Jounichi then realized why those two guys never came back to give him the Coke. They had been behind him all the time, waiting just in case the blond decided to attack after all. The guy who had half-followed them did what he did just so Jounouchi would be all surrendered.

The Elvis-wannabe had taken a hold on both his arms before he was even close to punch Hirutani's face. In instinct, Jounouchi hit the guy's stomach with his elbow, making him gasp for air. Now free from the grasp, the teen continued to his target. This time, however, he was stopped almost immediately by the big guy, who held his arms so hard he was unable to move them.

"That was amusing," the teen heard from Hirutani, and growled in response. "By your attitude up until now, I was worried you had gotten way too cold and soft. Not a good mix, y'know."

"Hirutani, if you even touch a hair of my buddies, I swear you'll regret you were ever born!"

"Interesting," Hirutani said, not really threatened. Snapping his fingers, he said, "Then, let's sit down and get to business."

Still trying to get away from the big guy's grip, Jounouchi was led over to one of the couches and forced to sit down. The blond didn't like his situation, at all. Now that he first was being held by this guy, he could not get away. He could just get his shoulders to relax, then the big buy would let his guard down, and then he could get away and kick everybody's asses.

But for now he had to listen.

"Jounouchi, you just hit one of our pals, and as you know, that doesn't go between my fingers." Hirutani took a new cigarette after his old one had burned out. "But I'm a nice guy," he said, and the blonde wanted to throw up. "I don't hurt former members without a really good reason." As he said this, Jounouchi remembered how he had been beaten half to death that night he told the gang he wanted to quit, then all those times he got assaulted on his way to and from school afterward. It was a miracle how he managed to get to school every single day. Hirutani smirked as he came with the last remark. "Instead, we'll take your friends, hopefully that will teach you a lesson, Jounouchi."

Still being held by a strong grasp, the blonde could not do anything else than widen his eyes while quickly thinking of his friends. Honda was a good fighter even if he did not look like it, but he was no good against more than one of the underlings. Miho would probably be protected by him, but how long would that last? Anzu could not fight, and would probably piss them even more off with her big know-it-all mouth. And Yugi. Oh, Yugi. They would likely kill him without sweating a drop, even if they just intended to give him some bruises. The thought of his friends lying on the ground full with wounds and blood made the former street fighter lose most of the colors on his face, and Hirutani and the others noted this.

"However," the leader added, making Jounouchi react and listen. "If you come back to us, we will ignore it. I might even decide to stop bothering people from Domino high, if you're doing a good job. As I said, Domino territory was our second option."

Jounouchi frowned. If he refused, they would go after his friends, but Jounouchi could just warn them and help protecting them. As he thought this, Jounouchi realized that even that would not work. Just having the knowledge of a possible surprise attack did not make them capable of defending themselves, and Jounouchi knew that he would never be able to be there for them all. They all had different work to do every day, and Jounouchi too had tons of part-time jobs to go to. There was no way to get out of this safely.

Getting tired of his silence, Hirutani decided to speak again, rising up from the couch. "Well, Jounouchi? Do we have a deal?"

The blond looked up at his former leader with so much hatred and frustration as possible. He leant a littler forward as he too rose up, no longer held by the big guy, pointing at the blue-haired guy in the most threatening way possible. "You've gotta _swear _that they'll be out of harm's way, or you'll never get away with this!" Hirutani just smiled, satisfied that he had gotten his way after all. That just made Jounouchi more furious, but he could not do anything about it. He had to play as cool as possible in this situation. He had to think this through for the time being.

"So you've agreed, then?" He knew Hirutani did not need an answer; the fact that he just reached out his hand to shake the deal was just a formal way to accept. Jounouchi reached out his hand to shake it. "Welcome back, bro'."

The high school student stopped his hand just some centimeters away, clenching the fist. Was there really no way out of this situation? Jounouchi knew the answer already, so after a second he took Hirutani's hand, and let Hirutani shake. "Sick to be back." This was apparently quite amusing, as Hirutani began laughing, being followed by the other gang members.

Jounouchi did not laugh.

He finally got the glass of Coke Hirutani had ordered for him, and he was told to sit down and enjoy himself. Jounouchi did the first thing only. As he sat and listened to those trying to talk to him, his thoughts went elsewhere.

He had broken Honda's promise. Jounouchi had promised Honda and himself to never ever be a part of a gang again. But if Jounouchi was lucky, neither Honda nor his new friends would know of this. He would stop coming to school, and try to be as far away from his usual places as possible. He would try to hide as much as possible from his friends. And if it so happened that they would cross paths… Jounouchi just had to make them stop prey, making them give up on him before something worse happened.

Jounouchi took one last hateful look over at Hirutani, before accepting the fact that he had been coerced back to the previous chapter.


End file.
